Abstract

Optical vortices, carrying a doughnut-shaped spatial form and an orbital angular momentum assigned with l (l, topological charge), have received attention in diverse application fields, for instance, high spatial resolution microscopies, quantum communications, and chiral materials processing. The aforementioned applications require highly pulsed optical vortex sources with wavelength versatility. In general, a mode conversion technique based on wavefront modulation elements, such as a spiral phase plate and a spatial light modulator, allows us to produce optical vortices; however, these elements, designed for specified frequency, impact highly a power scaling and a frequency versatility of the systems owing to the diffraction losses and optical damege.

© 2017 IEEE